A Green Revolution for Sub-Saharan Africa: Past Failures and Future Prospects

Technology Transfer and Agricultural Development: A Comparative Study of Asia and Africa

“…The major conclusions remain the same qualitatively, even if average yield in tropical Asia was used.15 Although not shown here, the yields of sorghum and millet are not only low and stagnant in both SSA and Asia but also similar between the two, indicating the Green Revolution of these crops did not take place in tropical Asia or SSA so far(Otsuka and Muraoka 2017).…”

“…Fourth, similar to the case of rice, the maize yield in SSA began increasing around 2005, which may reflect the increasing adoption of new technologies, possibly leading to a maize Green Revolution in SSA. According to the review of literature on maize production in SSA by Otsuka and Muraoka (2017), the adoption of high-yielding hybrid seeds, use of chemical fertilizer as well as manure and compost, and application of inter-cropping with leguminous crops which have the capacity to fix nitrogen have been gradually increasing in SSA. Furthermore, responding to population pressure, markets have been developing and improved soil management technologies adopted in East Africa (Yamano et al 2011).…”

“…I obtained this information from the former assistant of IRRI, Violy Cordova, who had worked for IRRI since 1970, Dr. Chukichi Kaneda who worked for IRRI in the early 1970s, and Professor Koji Tanaka of Kyoto University who has researched the history of the development of rice faming in Asia. 20 This is true not only for rice but also for maize(Otsuka and Muraoka 2017).21 For simplicity,Fig. 2.11does not consider the consumption linkage effect of agricultural innovations on nonfarm sectors, which arises from increases in farm household income.…”

Does Adoption of Agricultural Innovations Impact Farm Production and Household Welfare in Sub-Saharan Africa? A Meta-Analysis

“…Lack of efforts to develop and disseminate an integrated package of new and useful technologies, which include improved management practices and natural resource management practices, have been identified as a reason for the failure of the agricultural innovations’ adoption to exhibit a significantly higher impact in SSA (Otsuka and Muraoka 2015). Also, there is increasing concern among Development Economists as to whether or not institutional constraints such as credit markets, poor transportation networks, weak extension services, absence of private input retailers, are responsible for the poor performance of green revolution in SSA (The New York Times 2015).…”

“…However, the extent or magnitude of the relationship is small and thus, weak. Otsuka and Muraoka (2015) identified lack of efforts to develop and disseminate an integrated package of new and useful technologies as one of the possible reasons for the weak impact of agricultural innovation adoption in SSA. Also, there is an ongoing debate among development economists on whether or not institutional constraints such as credit markets, poor transportation networks, weak extension services, and absence of private input retailers, are responsible for the failure of agricultural GR in SSA (The New York Times 2015).…”